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Saturday, June 3, 2017

NTRPG Con - Upcoming Kickstarters

It has been said that NTRPG Con is the place where deals are made and handshakes are exchanged. This year is no different - or maybe it is - I think that more handshakes have happened this year then the two years prior. Maybe I'm just better positioned to listen this year. In any case, I won't be leaking anything that isn't confirmed.

What is confirmed is that Merle Rasmussen's new Top Secret game is Kickstarting in about two weeks. Rach and I playtested it last year and this year we get to play with the finalized rules. I loved me some Top Secret back in High School and this is one to look for. I'll see if I can corner Merle for a short interview ;)

How about this one? +Frank Mentzer will be Kickstarting a fantasy setting this summer. It looks to be a boxed set with maps by Darlene. Think Greyhawk with the overwhelming wargaming background. More politics but just as dangerous, Frank has been playing with this setting since the early days of TSR.

Then there is... not yet ready to be announced but damn, I wish I could. Sworn to secrecy. Sometimes the price of knowing is not telling...

Actually the opposite. Greyhawk was a group of oft-warring smallish groups, presented in a quantum synergy of fantasy and wargaming, pushing the envelope. Mine is but one 'nation' with wilderness, a colony of the former, quite similar to many homespun campaigns. The set will resemble the 1980 boxed original in many ways, but also using updated components; I'm not going full retro.

Perhaps one of the key features: Pick your era by your Magic comfort level.In the Colonial century, magic is ultra-rare. So is fancy arms & armor, and barbarians in the hills limit the inward expansion. The Middle century is the bullseye for most, your typical level of some-but-not-too-much magic. The final century is High form, where (frex) you can buy a triply-enchanted weapon if you have the cash, and the latest potions are on that rack, there.The realm changes in 300 years, of course... Think on N.America 1600-2000. ;>

Confirmed: Judges Guild, Darlene, MentzerProbable: Easley, Otus, Dee, Diesel, more (still need to talk to Larry). Get the band back together one more time.

ps: It won't have the name of my home campaign (Aquaria), which makes you think of a sea campaign. Isn't, never has been. So it'll be the unique capital city, then.

As to system, currently thinking OSR (B/X/mine) plus 5e in the print, and about 8 other common systems as free optional PDFs (crunch bits only, see page whatever). pls note tho that most settings need not be system-specific, and same here, so crunch is very little of the work.

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)